Clarify Your Team Mission

Day 6

Welcome to Day 6 of Ten Days to Better Leadership. Realistic and manageable steps were assigned yesterday to your ONE thing. I hope that inspired you! Now let’s transition from focusing on your personal mission to focusing on the team you lead.

Reflection:

Each team has a unique mission and place within the whole organization. Now that you have clarity about your own personal mission and you’ve set measurable, realistic goals, it’s time to clarify the primary mission for your team.

To get the discussion started with your team, you could share briefly how you’ve created a personal mission statement, used that mission to create realistic goals, and how you’re implementing your plan.

Your team mission may have already been established by a superior, or by you, or by the team as a whole. If it hasn’t been established yet, it’s crucial to get this foundational step in place.

Without a clear purpose behind what they’re doing, it’s difficult for team members to “own” or feel a connection to the larger picture.

When every team member supports the mission, you end up with a team that places a high value on each individual’s contribution, including their own.

If your team’s mission hasn’t been clearly determined yet or needs to be clarified, below are questions that help to clarify it.

As a team leader, you can answer these questions yourself, but discussion with the whole team serves to get everyone on board, build camaraderie, and reveal weak areas.

Action:

Ask yourself and the team, “What does this team exist to do?” Be as specific as possible.

 

 

What specific part does each individual member fulfill to accomplish what the team does?

 

 

Ask each member to articulate their portion. Ask others to help clarify and determine overlap or holes.

Is each member clear on how their part fits into the whole? Does each member understand the value of every other member’s part?

 

What does success look like for this team?

 

What does failure look like?

 

With these answers in mind, you can now clearly determine the primary mission of your team. Write out a specific team mission statement. There may be several components but simplify and clarify each section.

Tomorrow we’ll get into identifying your team goals.

Until Tomorrow, 

Kyle Sexton